“What are you doing?” He’d asked without preamble.

  “It would appear,” she’d replied, her head of wavy, thick black silky curls still bent over the book, “I am developing an argument against one of my society members for the meeting next month.”

  Matthias blinked. “Pardon me?”

  “Please sit by me,” she invited him.

  Amused, he did as she requested, peering over her shoulder.

  She’d turned the book toward him and began to explain what she was doing. The memory was a sweet one. The animation on her face along with her pleased smile dazzled his senses. To this day, he had no idea what she said because it didn’t matter.

  He’d sat there, captivated by the cadence of her voice.

  For the first time in such a long time, he was listening to something other than the struggle for equality.

  Until he met her, his mind had been solely entrenched in the fight. Working tirelessly with various chapters of the National Equal Rights League, speaking at conventions, rallies, and Negro churches all over the country. Writing pamphlets, and providing articles for the rising influence of the Negro press.

  Despite all he did, it seemed as if it were a never-ending battle. The more he fought, through the power of words and of the written language, the more it seemed as if nothing he did mattered. Jim Crow laws had begun to sweep the nation despite Emancipation. Southern politics clashed with Northern politics in the dynamic called ‘Reconstruction’.

  Matthias had come to the West Indies at the invitation of Brutus but he had also come because of the despair which had begun to settle in his heart. Though he never uttered the thought, he felt as if nothing would ever change.

  What was the point of the sacrifice if there was never a reward?

  Yet, in the middle of a garden, he found his reward in the person of this strange woman. A woman who talked with eloquence and surety. A woman who gave him a blissful, albeit confusing introduction to mathematics.

  Among the hedges of rockcress, the arabette flowers Brutus’s mansion was named after, the despair receded. Next to her on the soft grass, he found rest from his labors.

  “You have no idea what I am talking about, do you, sir?” She’d asked him that day.

  “No,” he’d told her honestly. “But you make it sound fascinating.”

  With a huff of irritation, she got up from the ground and brushed off her clothes. “I’ve no time to dally with men who don’t have an elementary grasp of mathematics.”

  She’d started to walk away and he scrambled after her. “I do know that two twice is four.’

  Her dark eyes slanted a cold, disdainful glance at him. “I didn’t say rudimentary.”

  And just like that, he’d fallen in love with her, before he even knew her name. She was firmly lodged in his heart, right next to the place reserved for his deceased parents and his beloved sister, Lacy.

  “Matthias, are you listening to me?”

  He shuddered and came out of the past. Brielle’s worried visage gazed at him. “I’m sorry.”

  “There’s no need for you to apologize, Matthias.” Did she have any idea how wistful her expression was? “It’s better this way. You can’t be with a woman who can’t share in your work with you.”

  He said nothing as he stared at her. He had to tread carefully. Whether or not she realized it, the fact she was trying protect him was evidence of her love for him. But she didn’t know. Or maybe, she closed herself off to it.

  After all, this was a woman of intellect who had once haughtily made it clear only a man who could stimulate her mind could ever attract her attention. He’d set out to prove her wrong and what a challenge it had been.

  Two years ago, she had fought hard against him though. Using her superior knowledge to bring a sharp relief to their differences. And yes, she had been cold and aloof. “Disciplined minds are not regulated by emotionalism,” she’d told him once. “You’re a man of a higher degree of mental capacity, I’ll give you that. But not enough to capture my interest.”

  If she had thought it would have discouraged him, she’d been in for a surprise. He had never met a woman like her. The challenge she’d presented had invigorated and inspired him. His pursuit of her had been hard won, but how sweet!

  If he let her go now, she would return to that darkness. Truth be told, he understood exactly what she meant. His gut clenched as a dark memory reared its head. He knew about the call of the dark and just how alluring it could be.

  He shook that though away. If he wanted to hold onto her, he’d have to do it via practicality.

  “Will you at least help me with this case, Brielle? I won’t ask you for more than that right now. We have an opportunity to bring someone to justice if indeed this man was murdered. I believe we can solve this case.”

  Swiftly he wracked his brain to find a reference she would connect to. “Do you really think it is a coincidence you are here right now? Do you think this is simply the-the law of probability that you would be placed here at this moment in time? That I would?

  “I don’t think so. I think the Almighty put you and me for here for this very reason – to help catch a murderer. Maybe, perhaps, only you and I can do it. Isn’t that worth discovering, Brielle?”

  Chapter Four

  “In order to enter, my name you must remember. For I am an umbrella that never opens in winter.”

  The butler at the door recited the riddle with a face devoid of emotion but Brielle liked it although she found it rather simplistic. “Your name is mushroom.”

  The butler stood to the side. “Salutations, Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn. Welcome to the Dallmann residence.”

  Brielle stepped inside the foyer and took in her first glance of the glamorous high-rise home of the Dallmann’s.

  In truth, Brielle was still unused to being addressed as Matthias’s wife. It was still unsettling to think of him as her husband. She had wanted to do all she could to not become his wife but it seemed as if the Almighty, dieu Tout-Puissant, had other plans.

  She took comfort in the fact of knowing that her marriage was only temporary, just like her assignment with the Pinkerton agency.

  A short aberration. A mere tiptoe into the pool of insanity.

  Mr. Gordon had sent a courier to the Dallmann’s residence to inform that lady that the agents would be in residence.

  Servants came and took their wraps while two more hefted the trunk with their belongings. “Lady Dallmann has given you the Belle Suite. Please follow me.”

  With Matthias’s hand on her elbow, they followed the butler as he led them from the foyer to the winding staircase. Brielle took in her surroundings. Victorian décor throughout. Ornate florals, highly polished wood, pastel colors, and stiff spindly chairs.

  This was the home of an English woman.

  Though luxurious, this house could fit into the mansion of Arabette Grove twice over. They arrived on the second landing and to a room where the servants were already putting away their belongings.

  “Mr. and Lady Dallmann hopes you will enjoy your stay during the cerebral colloquy.” The butler then gave a brief description of the suite, pointing out the separate rooms connected by a single door.

  She let out an inaudible sigh of relief. It hadn’t escaped that temporary marriage or not, he was still her husband. As her husband, he had did have certain…rights that belonged to him.

  Just as she had certain privileges that belonged to her.

  No, she had to stop that train of thought. Yet, her eyes betrayed her as they followed Matthias’s sure-footed gait as he walked across the room to peer out of the window. Just before he turned back around, she ripped her gaze from him and started over to the vanity.

  “There’s an X marked here on the window,” he told her. “I wonder what it’s for.”

  “More than likely a treasure hunt,” Brielle guessed. “This is a cerebral colloquy after all. It’s possible that this entire week will be full of games and more.”

  “I see.”

  Her heart skipped a beat and she stared at her reflection, seeing the tiny pulse at the base of her throat pound with nervousness. Could she really be here and help solve a murder? What had she been thinking?

  When the maids finished unpacking their trunks and stowing away their garments, they both curtsied and Brielle dismissed them with the singular nod she’d grown accustomed to at her own home.

  As the door shut behind the servants, Brielle said, “I feel absolutely ridiculous.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I have no idea what I’m doing here.” Her chest constricted and she had difficulty taking in a breath. “I can’t believe I let you convince to do this.”

  Matthias came and stood next to her. His eyes met hers in the mirror. “I didn’t convince you of anything you didn’t already want to do. Don’t be nervous or afraid. A Pinkerton has to have composure even when the circumstances are not altogether pleasant.”

  Composure? “How?” she asked. She was well out of her comfort area and wished with all her heart, at that moment, that she had stayed at Arabette Grove.

  He squatted next to her and tapped the bottom of her chin with his forefinger. “Think of this as no more than a mathematical problem.”

  Taking in a deep breath, she calmed herself. Rationality would assist her as it had in the past when she was faced with some difficult scenario.

  Although that scenario was usually on paper with ink. This was something altogether different.

  Matthias’s black eyes stared at her and she felt her insides quiver though she tried to look remote. He was her husband now. When Mr. Gordon had married them with the judge by his side, she fought down the butterflies that had taken flight in her stomach. No matter how much she tried to ignore it, when Mr. Gordon said, “You may now kiss the bride,” she had every certainty that Matthias would kiss her.

  She’d waited with bated breath, posed for the touch of his mouth, wondering if the experience would be as she remembered it before.

  The last time had been the night she tried to forget for the past two years. She recalled the way the moonlight had risen up and shone its blue crystal light upon them. Arabette bushes shimmered under the moonlight’s gentle sheen and the call of nocturnal birds had peppered the air.

  A man of passion, he’d suddenly caught her up against him, his arms like bands of steel about her waist. His hard fingers dug into the knot of hair at the back of her head, tugging it until her mouth hovered just inches under his own. “One kiss, Arielle. Just one to—”

  “Brielle?”

  She jolted and came out of the memory, back to the present. Matthias still squatted by her but the knowing gleam in his eyes gave her the impression that he had read every thought which had entered her mind. More waves of heat crashed against her.

  “Yes?” she croaked out like a frog.

  “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head but didn’t say anything. How could she admit that she’d been disappointed when he didn’t kiss her, when he’d had every right to now? It was she who had told him that she hadn’t loved him. So, if he took her at his word, could she be upset by his actions?

  Instead, Matthias squeezed her hand and then stepped back, making conversation with Mr. Gordon while Marianne and Pearl, the housekeeper, had brought a small, tiny wedding cake to her. They cut the cake and then each had a bite but she had no recollection of how it tasted.

  All she could recall was how dismal she felt that Matthias had not kissed her. Which made no sense. Though the end result had come about in a different way than how she’d pictured, it was what she wanted, wasn’t it?

  Once again, she listed the reason why she would be a horrible wife to Matthias. She had no regard for anyone but herself.

  Then why are you here? A voice whispered in her head.

  Because, this is different. This is a matter of logic and intuition.

  Or maybe, you have no idea what you want as long as you’re with him. Nothing is ever simple with Matthias Blackburn.

  Did she have any idea how expressive her face was when she wasn’t on her guard? It was obvious she didn’t because Matthias would wager all that he had that Brielle, his wife, was as confused as she’d ever been.

  His wife.

  The words made him swell with pride. How it wished it was under different circumstances but he wouldn’t complain too much. For the past two years, he dreamed of the day when he would call her his and now, that day had come.

  Though the wedding was only to last for the duration of the case, Matthias would use every minute as an opportunity to make her see she was the perfect wife for him.

  A knock at the door made them both jump and he stood. “Come in.”

  The door opened a maid entered. “A gift from Lady Dallmann,” she said in a low, barely audible breath. She held out a white envelope with the names, Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn etched in gold upon it.

  “Thank you.” Brielle took the envelope from the nervous woman.

  The woman barely curtsied before she ran out the room and closed the door.

  “I wonder why she was so nervous,” Matthias wondered out loud but then dismissed it from his mind. “What is in the envelope?”

  Brielle said nothing while she opened it. A large piece of paper with three columns, each with three numbers separated by a comma filled it.

  “I can’t believe. I love this!”

  “What is this?”

  She held the paper out to him like an eager child. The first genuine smile he’d seen since they met again lit her entire face. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  He still didn’t have a clue what she was referring to. “I’d like to say so but I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She shook her head as if he were a small, naughty boy and then her eyes began searching around the room. “I wonder if the key is here.”

  “The key?”

  “Oui. The key.”

  Matthias’s eyebrow arched into his forehead as he tried to understand what she was referring to. Her eyes landed on a small narrow shelf where a few books rested. Pushing past him, she dashed across the room and retrieved them.

  “Matthias, assist me,” she said with that impervious tone that he loved.

  “With what?”

  “Finding which is the key.”

  He stared down at her picking up the books and flipping through the pages. Hazarding a guess, he asked, “Is the key in the books?”

  “No. The book is the key.”

  “I see.” But he really didn’t.

  Something in his voice must have alerted her because she lifted her head. “This is a cipher. It’s a code written in numeric order. Come.”

  He went over to stand by her side. Using her finger, she pointed to the first row of the first column. “The first number corresponds to the line noted in the key. The second number is the placement of the word in that line. The third number relays the position of the letter in that word.”

  “I see,” he answered, this time in truth.

  For the next little while, they spent time going through the books until they found the correct one.

  “Moby Dick!” Brielle squealed with delight. “I’ve never read the story but Arielle found it enjoyable.”

  Together, they went through the cipher. Matthias then begin to enjoy himself as the message appeared with each letter that was revealed. Having Brielle filled with the pleasure at the game was different. Two years ago, when he had tried to woo her, she’d remained aloof and reserved.

  He much preferred this almost child-like attitude of hers. It made her even more alluring.

  Maybe he should steal a kiss from her now while she was so distracted.

  As swiftly as the desire to do that rear its head, he tapped it back down. No, Brielle would have to be the one to close the physical gap between them. It was she who said she didn’t love him. Though he knew it for the lie it was, he would not be the one to change the direction of their relationship.

  Well, at least not at first.

  “The Scottish man traveled to many a land,” Brielle read once they wrote the final letter. “And found a star in his hand.” They both studied the words for a moment and then Matthias’s snapped his fingers at the same that Brielle exclaimed. “Archie!”

  This was it! This was a code that Lady Dallmann was using to determine who the agents among her group. It also stood to reason that the riddle acted as a summons.

  “How should we respond, then?” Matthias wondered. “Should we ask for an audience?”

  Brielle’s gaze drifted away from him. “Yes, that’s what we should do. But we can’t do it tonight. We’ll send a note with a maid and request an audience with her. Or wait. Maybe I should to do it alone.”

  His head cocked to the side. “Why is that?”

  “I’m a woman,” she said simply. “If we both went together it may draw unnecessary attention. But if I went to see her alone, then no one would be none the wiser. You can stay out in the open with the other guests and see if you can catch anything that may aid us in our investigation.”

  Though he was supposed to be the one training her, he knew it wouldn’t be for long. He mulled over the plan, thinking it may work.

  “We’ll do that then. I’ll leave you to write the note. Dinner will be within the hour so I will go to my room and change and then we’ll go down together.”

  “Of course.”

  He couldn’t resist caressing her cheek, pleased with how well they worked together. Reluctantly he left her presence and entered the room set aside for him.

  Matthias went about changing for dinner. He’d never had a valet although more than once he’d acted in the capacity. Standing before the long mirror, he saw the ghostly specter of himself as a child standing at his leg. He’d been a skinny runt but that hadn’t stopped him from going back and forth from the wardrobe to help dress the tall white man he once referred to as master.

  Though he had been born a slave, his master’s family had given Matthias’s parents their freedom when his mother and father risked their lives to save his master’s son from drowning in a river when he’d been eight years old.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9